Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 1d

I am getting a pitch together for a story on how maybe it’s time to rethink if Paul Newman was cool. I hope I can find a home for it.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 1d

You can almost picture Trent Reznor and Rick Rubin sitting there like “You know who would do a devastating cover of ‘Hurt’? This deeply uncool dork.”

Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 1d

Ah yes, famously uncool singer Johnny Cash. I am glad noted arbiter of cool the Wall Street Journal is willing to reconsider his case.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 1d

If you’re uncool enough they make a movie about you where Joaquin Phoenix wears awesome suits and falls in love with Reese Witherspoon and gets addicted to drugs. Typical hallmarks of uncoolness.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 1d

He didn’t shoot a guy in Reno just so some sad-looking guy could say he isn’t as cool as the guy who sang “he could throw that speedball by you”

Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 1d

Should we take another look at George Clooney while we’re at it?

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 1d

I’ll spend the rest of my days contemplating how anyone could think Bruce Springsteen is cooler than Johnny Cash. Amazing stuff.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 1d

Ah yes, famously uncool singer Johnny Cash. I am glad noted arbiter of cool the Wall Street Journal is willing to reconsider his case.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 3d

Actual conversation I once had in the editing process of a story

Them: "You can't say 'Jay Jaffe's JAWS system' because our readers won't know who Jay Jaffe is."

Me: "They will if I keep mentioning him in stories."

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 3d

(Guy who did a lot of radio and music production in college here. The way around this is you redline the recording of the commercials, losing a little quality but resulting in something that feels far louder at the same volume.) www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

California Passes Law Banning Loud Commercials on Streaming Services

Starting July 1 of next year, Netflix and Co. will need to keep the audio levels consistent from movie and TV shows to advertisements.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 3d

The happiness I got from spending three years telling people, with a straight face, that there was absolutely nothing unusual or bad about KD joining the Warriors is something @thefarmerjones.bsky.social can never take away from me

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 3d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 3d

I'm not saying Metallica and some others didn't come off very poorly in the Napster era, but the internet has always believed everything should be free (music, movies, news, books) and has never had anything resembling a plan for how the people who create that stuff will get money for food or rent.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 4d

I'd like to think LeBron doesn't need the money. Though that would lead to the hard-to-fathom belief that he found the ad, and its rollout, compelling or clever.

So I actually kinda hope this was to cover gambling debts or something.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 15d

It's always fun to describe my Humboldt experience to people who think they went to a "super liberal" school. By the end of the chat they're always like "oh, I think I am actually a Republican?"

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 15d

Saw this as a subject line in an email from SFGate and immediately knew they were talking about @calpolyhumboldt.bsky.social.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 18d

I remember The Super being pretty bad and I'd guess it has aged very poorly in terms of urban stereotypes. That being said, his performance was exactly what they were going for and that's all an actor can control.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 18d

This is how I felt every time people gave LeBron a hard time about books. Yes, it didn’t look like he’d gotten very far into “Roots.” But maybe some people who saw those pictures went and bought a copy of that book, and maybe some of those people read the book.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 24d

The cynics got to it first and somehow missed that she was well aware of it being a big chain (she quite literally spelled that out toward the end of the column) and couldn't handle her ... liking it. The second wave of people defending her was great. Bourdain in particular.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 24d

Sad to see that Marilyn Hagerty, the woman who wrote a review of her local Olive Garden, died. It still baffles me that anyone had an issue with that column, which was earnest, accurate and made no attempt to be anything it wasn't.

Also she spelled ambience correctly. apnews.com/article/mari...

North Dakota newspaper columnist whose Olive Garden review went viral dies at 99

Marilyn Hagerty, the North Dakota newspaper columnist whose earnest review of her local Olive Garden became a social media sensation, has died. She was 99.

apnews.com

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · Sep 9

That’s me with every motorcycle I’ve seen since I moved to Connecticut

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · Sep 9

As someone who deals with a LOT of deer these days (my house backs up against the woods) I would advise that they can be almost shockingly dumb, they travel with ticks and they leave a pile of crap everywhere they go. So they're more like humans than people think.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · Sep 8

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · Sep 8

Wait! Correction! Losin Again was the one that became this. Erik Yee was on the same 7” though. And it’s delightful.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · Sep 8

Have you heard the original cut of this song where it was making fun of a guy who works for Rasputin Records? It’s hilarious.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · Sep 1

Coming out that centerfield gate for a Little League parade around the stadium is the coolest an East Bay kid in the 80s could feel

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · Aug 31

Pearlman wrote a fun thing on that at the time where he talked about the difference between a 4:03 and a 2:50 and how no one could ever legitimately make that mistake.

I think Kilian is what Ryan thought he was lol.

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